Statisticians fear Trump White House will manipulate figures to fit narrative

By artappraiser on Mon, 01/30/2017 - 2:29pm |

Experts, including former chief statistician of the US and outgoing head of Bureau of Labor Statistics, see threats to system of public, accurate data

US statisticians are concerned that Donald Trump’s administration might suppress or manipulate public statistics that don’t fit his narrative of the truth, the Guardian has learned. In a series of interviews, individuals who have recently left high-level positions at federal statistical agencies expressed worry that the administration may stop collecting and publishing data on subjects such as abortion, racial inequality and poverty [....]

In a press conference on Monday, the White House spokesman, Sean Spicer, toldjournalists: “The president, he’s not focused on statistics as much as he is on whether or not the American people are doing better as a whole.” But without statistics, measuring how “the American people are doing” is simply a matter of opinion [....]

URL:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/30/statistics-trump-administration-numbers-manipulation

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Of course calling TrumpWH's attention to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' concerns is the surest way to protect it. Not.

TrumpWH doesn't have to actually manipulate any figures. They can just make up any numbers they want for their narrative. People who want to believe them will; people who don't will fact check but by then the narrative will have moved on and corrections are just yesterday's news Sadly, it is not just Trump and friends who play fast and loose when presenting numbers. Most people, including pundits, do not have the knowledge, the skills nor the access to raw data needed to evaluate conflicting claims so they either rely on someone else or trust their gut.

Anyone know if Ms Chalabi is related to Ahmed?

by EmmaZahn on Tue, 01/31/2017 - 7:19am

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